http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu Weblog for Gustavus Mathematics and Computer Science Department Tue, 29 Jul 2008 02:16:13 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en This year, Gustavus will be starting a new campus-wide program, Gustavus Global Insight, in which we try to focus on a particular international theme each year and integrate that theme as broadly as possible in our curriculum and co-curricular activities.  This first year (2008-2009) will be focused on China.  I ... http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/07/28/examples-of-integrating-the-china-theme/ At Francis Su's lecture this evening the three finalists in the Fibonacci poetry contest read their poems.  Below is the winning poem, followed by the two other finalists.Fibonacci, by Bethany RingdalTheydon'tmarch intime, how Ithought I would find them;these numbers slide, hum and nestlein the pearly curves and coils of a poem in the sun.Untitled, by ... http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/05/01/winning-poems/ The first MCS Department poetry contest brought out the best from our students.  Three of them have been selected as finalists, with the help of expert judges from the Gustavus English Department.  Congratulations to Erik Alquist, Katie O'Bryan, and Bethany Ringdal!  These three have now been invited to read their poems at ... http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/04/21/poetry-finalists-announced-learn-who-wins-50/ http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/04/15/art-show-opening-draws-crowd/ The first-ever Math/Computer Science Faculty Art Exhibit opens Monday, April 14, in the lobby of the third floor of Olin Hall. Lois Peterson (art & art history) is the curator for the exhibit, which includes weavings, needlework, origami, woodworking, hand-tied fly-fishing lures, and other creative visual work produced by the ... http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/04/11/196/ Prof. Stephen Samuel11:30-12:20 on Wednesday, April 9, 2008Olin Hall, Room 321Lunch will be servedThe concept of fuzzy sets is an attempt to capture the inherently imprecise linguistic concepts in terms of mathematical expressions. This became absolutely necessary in late sixties as the irresistible quest for imitating the human brain ... http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/04/03/fuzzy-sets-and-fuzzy-numbers-seminar/ This is the strange story of how Gustavus math contest t-shirts have come to adorn a rock star.  In this post, all photos are thumbnails: click on them for the full-sized images.Recently, one of Gustavus's deans, Mariangela Maguire, told me she had received an email with a publicity photo for A ... http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/03/13/gustavus-math-t-shirts-rock/ To celebrate April being both Math Awareness Month and Poetry Month, the Gustavus Mathematics and Computer Science Department invites all Gustavus students to participate in a poetry contest with the opportunity to win a $50 prize and public recognition. Submissions are due by April 10, 2008, and the winner ... http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/03/12/poetry-contest/ Dr. Baili Chen, Washington University in St. Louis, Candidate for MCS faculty position Tuesday, March 11, 2008 at 3:30PM in Olin 320 Visual motion detection is one of the most active areas in neuroscience today. In this paper, we investigate the mechanism of motion-detection in ... http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/03/06/mathematical-modelling-of-motion-detection-in-fly%e2%80%99s-visual-cortex/ Eric A. Barnitt (Mayo Clinic, Gustavus '07) 11:30-12:20 on Wednesday, March 12, 2008 Olin Hall, Room 321 Lunch will be servedThe field of medical research is one that is vast and growing. Researchers are pushing to find new ways to understand complex medical questions in virtually every field of ... http://mcs.blog.gustavus.edu/2008/03/04/applied-statistics-and-programming-in-a-medical-research-setting/